Jake53's bloghttp://www.menwhoknit.com/community/blog/1704
To promote and inspire men who knit.enSweater knitting and not sticking to the pattern (doing free-hand embellishments)http://www.menwhoknit.com/community/node/3977
<p>I've seen several books on men's sweaters and all of them are well-made and classic, but most of them bore me. I want more variation than classic styles and different techniques and patterns. The last sweater I made I used Cascade 128 Peruvian highland wool. Guess what? BIG MISTAKE. After all of my hard work and all the "ohs!" and "ahs!" from everyone who saw it -- the ungrateful thing PILLED in no more than a few months after I finished it and started wearing it. I purposely made it a couple of sizes larger so I could wear a couple of flannel shirts and a t-shirt underneath it. I had put in all kinds of Celtic and Danish cable designs, and designed my own collar with Celtic pewter clasps at the throat. I topped it with a Medieval hood done in Dragon Scale with a 3-kneedle selvedge that allowed the top of the hood to lay flat. It was a dark charcoal with almost a bluish undertone and totally blocked the wind when I wore it outdoors. The overall effect was a sort of Merlin/Falconer look that was both rustic and practical. And it started looking awful in no time.</p>
<p>The one before I had made with dark brown Lopi Icelandic wool and it behaved beautifully. That one went to my younger brother, who asked me to make him something that would keep him warm while he was out on his sloop. I gave that one a shawl collar with a closure made from part of a deerhorn and again it had the rustic, male Celtic look. He could wear the shawl collar flat or make it stand up with the use of the deerhorn clasp. The collar opened in a sort of swirl off to one side that gave it a casual, almost careless "swashbuckler" sort of look. His friends all wondered where he got it and I almost started taking orders for them until they saw how much they'd be paying for yarn plus labor.</p>
<p>Any responses are welcome.</p>
http://www.menwhoknit.com/community/node/3977#commentsSat, 22 Dec 2007 23:06:25 +0000Jake533977 at http://www.menwhoknit.com/communityContinental vs English method and sock knittinghttp://www.menwhoknit.com/community/node/3976
<p>I taught myself English over 40 years ago and since then I developed severe arthritis all over my body but particularly in my shoulders, elbows and hands. I go to the gym 5 days/week, pump iron/run to keep fit but also to keep the arthritis at bay. This forced me to learn Continental; I looked at a book displaying in excellent detail but decided I was going to have to learn by someone showing me. I went to a retreat in Missouri about 6 years ago and an elderly lady coached me into learning it and I was able to apply the diagrams to what I learned. It took all summer, but I forced myself to "unlearn" English and learn Continental. As a result, I made 6 pairs of socks in time for Christmas, cutting my usual production time for sock knitting in half.</p>
<p>With all of those wonderful sock yarns out there (Sockotta, Online, etc) that actually pattern the colors for you by themselves it doesn't seem necessary to learn how to change colors to create different patterns, but I would encourage you to try. If you already know Continental, you can hold a different color in your right hand and change far more quickly than with the English method. Once you've tried it, you're hooked! The trick, of course, is learning to adjust your tension and weave the floats in as you work. Attaching the colored yarns to each other is also fun when you learn to "spit join", the way our ancestors did centuries ago to avoid knots that rub into you where you've changed colors.</p>
<p>I'm not a guru on this by any means.</p>
http://www.menwhoknit.com/community/node/3976#commentsSat, 22 Dec 2007 22:46:01 +0000Jake533976 at http://www.menwhoknit.com/community